Jessica's Friday Five: The FBI got involved (and how to avoid that)

Hi Reader,

This week was a rollercoaster. I celebrated my birthday on Monday (escape room, nap, dinner!), my son got la rosca baby on Día de Reyes, and my government here in the US lied about the sedition that happened five years ago at our Capitol, despite primary source evidence showing exactly the opposite. They also lied about the circumstances surrounding a woman who was murdered by ICE agents this week. Oh, and also this. Damn.

I wish I had all the advice for us about how to somehow stay sane amidst all of this. I'm personally trying to do the next needed thing and care by loving, raising some hell, and gathering people to join me in the same.

For over 300 of you, this is your first issue of Jessica's Friday Five. Hey, new friends. We do practical life tips and joy here, but my values also require me to speak up about the real and hard stuff, so you'll see that sometimes, too. I'm glad you're here. Let's get to your Friday Five.

1. Downloads Folder: You know when you download something from the internet, and it goes to a "Downloads" folder somewhere on your computer? It might be hard to find and full of stuff you haven't looked at for years. Did you know you can change the default location for file downloads? I have it set so that when things are downloaded, they go to my desktop. There, I'm much more likely to actually remember they exist, file them in the actual place they make sense, and delete the ones I no longer need. Just go to your internet browser settings to make this change. Caveat: having a ton of files on your computer desktop can slow it down quite a bit, so don't let dozens of files sit there forever, ok?
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2. Beehive is now available in 50 states: I have mentioned this before, but I'm a big fan of Beehive meals. As of yesterday, you can now get their food anywhere in the US. They're freezer meals that you can easily pull out for an easy dinner when you need it and put it in a slow cooker (or an Instant Pot, which is what we do). In the last few weeks, we've probably had 4 or 5 Beehive meals, and I'm excited that a box is arriving today with some delicious-looking ones (like chicken tortilla soup and BBQ pork). My friend link gets you a discount if you wanna try it.
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3. 4 things to stop identity theft: I've had my identity stolen more than once (including the FBI being involved when someone once filed taxes fraudulently in my name, ugh). So I've had to learn the hard way about how to avoid this. I published a blog a few weeks ago with 4 things you can do to protect yourself. The quickest one is to do the 2nd tip in the blog, and the most effective one is the 4th tip. The other two are also very helpful!
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4. Join me on Zoom? I'm doing two short events in the next few weeks online, and you're invited. Next week, I'm brainstorming with any of you who are free about a membership I've been thinking about creating, and I'd love to get your thoughts. It's half an hour, and there'll be prizes! RSVP here. Then on January 27th, my virtual assistant and I are gonna be on Zoom talking about how we work together on my business and home life. If you've ever been curious about what it might look like to get this kind of support, join us to ask your questions and hear our learnings over the years. RSVP for that one here.
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5. New year, new meeting schedule? Yesterday I was leading a workshop on project management for an amazing team, and the CEO asked a great question about how to think about her busy meeting schedule. I suggested she think about the following Qs to help reduce the load: ​

• Can the frequency of any recurring meetings be lessened (weekly to biweekly, for example?).
• Can the duration of meetings be lessened (from one hour to 30 minutes)?
• Could meetings still happen, but without you?
• Could meetings be canceled entirely because they're not really needed anymore?
• I also reminded her that any of these could be short pilots ("let's just try reducing our meeting length for January and see how it goes") if there's anxiety about trying out a change - you can try things out without committing to them forever and ever.

Bonus Sponsor Resource: I love this iPhone Tips Newsletter. The funny thing is, even if you like learning new iPhone tricks, between meetings, your kids’ extracurriculars, and everything else on your plate, the features that would help the most are usually the ones you never go looking for. That’s why I recommend iPhone Life Tip of the Day. It’s a free newsletter that teaches you one helpful iPhone tip each day, without you having to go searching for it. Clear instructions. Step-by-step screenshots. I still learn something new from it almost every week. Sign up here. It’s 100% free. This resource is from one of our Friday Five sponsors - thank you to them for keeping this newsletter free for readers!

Last Friday's Most-Clicked Link: The list of 2026 dates with easy buttons to add to your calendar. I made some updates with some suggestions from a handful of you (thanks, Joni, Rachel, Donna Lee, and Caren!).